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Old 03-19-2007, 02:44 PM   #15
Woodsy
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Join Date: May 2004
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Boater....

Its obvious from your post that you are in favor of a speed limit bill.... But why stop there? After all, last time I checked boating isn't a right guranteed by the US Constition! Boating is a personal freedom!

If you read the accident data from the MP, an argument could be made for eliminating towing tubes, wakeboards and waterskiiers.... after all people DIE doing those activities.

Lets go one more step...

People get hurt in bow rider type boats all the time... in fact two years ago on Lake Opechee a little girl bounced out of bowrider driven by her father and got hit by the propeller and died! We better outlaw them before another little girl suffers that fate!

PWC's & Jetskii's?? Fuggetaboutit.... you'll get killed on one of those! Those are very dangerous machines!

People get hurt driving powerboats. Maybe all powerboats should be outlawed?? YUP! Better get rid of 'em!

Now were down to canoes & kayaks & sailboats.... but wait, look at the report, people drown operating them all the time. In fact they are statistically the most dangerous watercraft out there... better outlaw them too...

When does the insanity end??

According to the US Coast Guard, the average recreational boater uses his boat for 20 days per year, approximately 4 hours each time for a total of 80 hours per year. (This is actually pretty conservative, the Coast Guard number is a bit higher) Here in NH there are over are over 100,000 registered boats! If you do the Math 100,000 boats x 80 hours = 8,000,000 boating hours. This doesn't count canoes, kayaks sailboats and any other unregisterable watercraft. It also doesn't count the number of hours on the water spent by out-of-state registered boats.

In over 8,000,000 boating hours there were only 87 accidents!! Thats .0000109 chance, or 1 boating accident for every 100,000 boating hours. Thats a pretty darn good number by anyones standards.

Of the 87 accidents, there was one accident that occured over the speed of 50 MPH! ONE! There were 6 collisions between boats and none of those occured at a speed greater than 30 MPH!

If you look at the FACTS and not the emotional rhetoric, there is absolutely no basis for a speed limit in NH. Personal Freedoms should be foaught for and cherished, not frittered away by a waterfront fproperty owners special interest group...

Woodsy

Woodsy
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